Ransome's Quest (16 page)

“He took down three ships of the line?”

Salvador paused and then almost lost his balance when Charlotte bumped into him. She braced her hands against his back to keep him from toppling over on her. The dirt and scrubby brush gave way to what looked like sheer rock face in front of him.

“In concert, his ships dealt mortal blows to two of the Royal Navy ships—hulling them below the waterline too severely for them to be salvaged. The third—the former commodore’s flagship—he put out of commission by taking down her masts and having his snipers relieve the officers of command.”

Spying his first foot- and handholds in the rock face, Salvador took a deep breath and began the climb.

“I have heard rumors of him. Of what he has done to people, to the women and children he has taken captive from the ships he attacks…ghastly, unmentionable things that will surely condemn his soul. Are…are they true? The rumors?” Charlotte clung to the side of the bluff with no evidence of effort.

Salvador’s entire body protested the unfamiliar physical strain. “I would imagine what you have heard is true. And worse yet. For I doubt the true nature of his black heart would be spoken of before a gentlewoman.”

Charlotte began mumbling under her breath.

“What is that?” Salvador took the opportunity to pause and try to catch his wind. “I did not understand you.”

“I was praying for Julia. I am no expert at entreating God for help, but if she has indeed fallen into Shaw’s hands, the only one who can help her now is the Almighty.”

Teachings from his youth—along with the preaching he allowed Jean Baptiste to do aboard
Vengeance
each Sunday—rang through Salvador’s head. He had turned his back on God when his father turned his back on him, leaving him at the mercy of the pirates who captured him. Yet it was to those teachings he owed his decision to leave that ship and set out on his own, doing what good he could in liberating slave ships—and the occasional ship from a particularly wealthy and successful sugar plantation.

The rest of the climb was accomplished in silence. At the top Salvador gratefully hoisted himself over the edge onto the almost flat top, a few well-placed boulders providing cover. He lay still, gasping for breath.

Charlotte climbed over the edge and, crouching, stepped over him, pulling out a small telescope and propping it on the lowest rock to look down into the bay below.

“Captain Salvador,” she hissed, “another ship is coming.”

Heart pounding—from the climb, mostly—he pushed himself up and pulled out his own spyglass. Indeed, over the mountain hemming in the opposite side of the bay, he could make out the topsails of a ship—a large one, from the spacing of the masts. And…

“It’s flying a British pennant!” Joy echoed in Charlotte’s voice. “We should find a way to signal them—we should have brought the box of flags with us—and tell them to join us on this side so we can come up with a plan together.”

“We cannot signal them without giving away our position to
Sister Mary
.” Salvador turned his glass downward to observe Shaw’s secondary ship. “Hopefully, the ship will continue on her way without taking note of the bay or its inhabitant.”

“And
Vengeance?”

“She is well hidden from any passersby.” Or should be, unless the naval ship’s captain decided to search the inlet north of the bay, blockaded from the open sea by this bluff. He swung the glass up again. The British ship slowed as it neared the mouth of the bay. Men reefed the topsails.

Cold lead poured through Salvador’s innards and sank his soul. He could not intervene without risking his own ship and crew. But could he sit by and do nothing, knowing the fate the naval ship faced?

The closer the British ship came to the mouth of the bay, the harder Charlotte’s heart pounded. If she had a more powerful spyglass, she might be able to see the individuals on deck and see if she recognized any of them.

Before losing the protection of the bluff on the other side of the bay, the ship stopped. Salvador’s mouth drew into a grim line.

“Is there no way we can warn them?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No. And
Sister Mary
will know of their arrival. They will have lookouts on that bluff, as well.”

She swung her glass around to sight the pirate ship once more. Activity on the deck, followed by the opening of the gun hatches, affirmed Salvador’s statement.

Outside the bay, the British ship lowered one of their gigs into the water.

“I need to borrow your glass, Captain Salvador. I need to know…”

He handed over the larger telescope and she pressed it to her eye. Yes, she could see faces now. Her stomach climbed into her throat. A thin figure with white blond hair climbed down the accommodation ladder to the small launch. “Kent.”

Sitting up, she frantically searched the deck. There—with Lieutenants Wallis, Duncan, Hamilton, and Martin flanking him—stood Ned. She choked on her own breath.

Salvador grabbed the telescope from her and pushed her down behind the rock.

“It’s Ned! It’s HMS
Audacious.
We have to stop them.” Her voice rasped against her fear. “We have to find a way to keep him from sending the boat in.”

“We cannot.” Salvador put the spyglass to his eye again. “The boat has raised the white flag. He is sending them in for parlay. If you truly believe in the efficacy of prayer, Miss Ransome, you had better pray for the men on that boat.”

Steadying her breathing, Charlotte raised her own glass and focused on the gig. Kent sat in the bow with another midshipman, while Midshipman Jamison sat in the stern with Lieutenant Gardiner. A white flag flew from the gig’s foremast, raised solely for that purpose as the two dozen sailors rowed into the bay.

She prayed as she had never prayed before, though for the most part her prayer consisted mainly of
Please, Lord, keep them safe.

The boat drew even with
Sister Mary,
though with many yards between them. A man in a gold-bedecked red coat stepped to the waist of
Sister Mary,
in the middle of a row of men with pistols and muskets aimed at the small boat. Gardiner stood up in the stern of the launch and touched the fore point of his hat.

Charlotte wished their voices carried up here. What did Ned know about Julia? Had she been taken?

Something bright flashed from the top of the bluff on the other side of the bay. Charlotte raised her head and glanced toward it—and then crackling booms split the stillness.

Stifling a cry, she lifted her telescope and scanned the water below. Smoke obscured the scene, but the yells and screams echoing along with the report of the gunfire told her clearly enough what had happened.

Where was Gardiner? Jamison? Kent?

“They’re going to attack
Audacious.
Lau, signal the ship that we’re coming.” Salvador crept toward the edge of the bluff.

The smoke below began to clear. The water around
Audacious
’s boat churned with men swimming away. Most wore sailors’ clothes, not the dark woolen officers’ uniforms. There, taking cover on the far side of the gig from the ship—was that Jamison’s red hair?

The crew of
Sister Mary
hoisted a few men out of the water—one of them in an indigo coat and tan pants with pale blond hair. Kent. Shaw’s men had Kent.

“Charlotte, we must leave now!”

Salvador’s voice broke through her panic. Yes, she could do nothing to help her shipmates from here. She must return with Salvador to his ship so they could go help Ned.

Tucking her spyglass under her belt, she slid over the edge of the cliff and started down, outpacing Salvador and Lau and making it back to the beach well before either. Picaro had the men ready at the oars and had the boat pushed out as Salvador and Lau ran toward them. Charlotte grabbed the side of the bow and flung herself into the boat—and barely had time to roll out of the way before Lau and then Salvador did the same.

At
Vengeance,
Charlotte hurried up the ladder on Salvador’s heels.

“Declan, set course northwest. Put some distance between us and the bay before
Sister Mary
leaves it.”

Charlotte stopped. “What? No! We have to go help Ned, help
Audacious.
He doesn’t know what he’s facing.”

Salvador turned and grabbed her by the shirt collar.
“Never
question my orders on the deck of my ship.”

Charlotte called upon all of her internal fortitude to keep from surrendering to fear. “Not even when you’re acting the coward?”

Salvador shoved her away from him, anger turning his eyes black. “Picaro, have the prisoner bound and gagged and then get her off my quarterdeck.”

The second mate took Charlotte by the arm but did not otherwise give evidence he intended to follow Salvador’s orders. “What happened? We heard gunfire.”

As Salvador seemed fit only for seething, Charlotte quickly filled in his crew on what they had witnessed.

When she finished, Declan faced his captain. “She’s right, sir, and you know it. We must render assistance to the navy ship or else
Sister Mary
will destroy them.”

“And in case you’ve forgotten,” Charlotte stepped forward, pulling her arm free from Picaro’s loose grip, “the only reason
Audacious
is out here and sent that boat into the bay is because they are looking for
me.
Because they don’t know it’s
you
and not Shaw who took me.”

Salvador’s jaw worked back and forth, as if grinding up his words before spitting them out. “Have you considered
Audacious
is just as likely to fire upon us as they are to accept our assistance?”

“Have you considered that helping them could be your way of showing your regret over the mistake you made?” Charlotte softened her voice but not her stance.

Surprise filled his expression at her words.

She took another step toward him, uncrossing her arms and dropping them to her sides. “Yes, Captain Salvador, I know you regret the action you took. This is not who you are. You are a good man. I’ve seen it in the way you treat your men, in the way they respect your leadership. In the account books I found in your cabin showing how much money you have taken over the years and from whom, because I assume you mean to pay it back somehow. In the fact you set out on this folly because of your desire to protect Julia.”

Julia’s name acted like a lit match to beeswax. Salvador’s tension melted. “Declan, set course to render assistance to the British ship.”

“Aye, aye, Cap’n.” The giant American turned and bellowed orders to the crew.

Charlotte closed the rest of the distance between herself and Salvador. “Let me help.”

“You’ve already been enough help. Go to my cabin and change back into your gown. Stay away from the windows and keep your head down. If something were to happen to you while we’re fighting to save your fiancé and his ship, he would hang me from the nearest yardarm. And he’d be right to do so.” Salvador gave her a tight smile and then squeezed her shoulder. “Go, now.”

She nodded and made her way through the crew scurrying about the deck to his cabin. Once Suresh learned what had happened, he left her alone in the cabin to go help on deck.

Charlotte closed the door behind him and finally allowed herself to notice the weakness in her legs. She sank to the floor and curled up in a ball on her side. But she would not give in to the fear. She refused to. There had to be a reason why Ned came while Salvador and his ship were here. God must have meant for Salvador to help Ned, to protect him from falling to the other pirate’s ship.

He must have meant for Ned to rescue her now so that together they could rescue Julia.

N
ed came out of the quarter gallery and immediately crossed to the sideboard to grab the pitcher of water to rinse out his mouth.

Again. He’d done it again. Made a bad decision and sent his men to their deaths. So many opportunities to not be in this position again lost, just like the lives of the men he’d sent into the bay.

Audacious
rumbled with footfalls and officers’ voices yelling orders to prepare the ship to sail while also preparing her for battle.

His stomach threatened to upend itself again.

The cabin door banged open and his steward entered, with Lieutenant Wallis on his heels.